Once a Reston resident

A better kind of Sunday traffic

I remember when I first started visiting Reston years ago. In the late eighties people thought Reston was never going to make it.  

Then in mid-nineties I can remember talking to people who thought Reston was going to become so crowded that it would be impossible to go to a grocery store on the weekend.

I think it is safe to say that Reston will muddle on with its traffic.

My son hates to shop for groceries during day in.  Reston because of the traffic and small parking places.

Recently I have been thinking that it would neat to have a grocery store on the water.  I guess my dream store would have plenty of places to tie up a skiff.  You could hop off the boat and do your shopping.  Then it would take just a few minutes to get home.

The boats in the pictues are in the Intracoaslal Waterway.  I bet most Reston people would trade our water traffic for their car traffic.

Unfortunately I doubt that Lake Anna in Reston would make enough connection to replace the roads.  The farmers market seems to work well, but there is just not enough water in Reston for my waterside grocery to work.

These perfect beach days are behind all my dreams.  Once we get to January, I will be back to reality.

The year without a summer?

Where is the brutal Northern Virginia heat?  I understand that the temperatures only got into the seventies yesterday.  That's definitely not like July in Reston. 

Of course things are all relative.  My friend in New Jersey was begging for some seventies a week or two ago.  Then there is my friend in Halifax, Nova Scotia who seems to be stuck at 55 degrees and drizzle.  Last week I noticed temperatures in the thirties in Edmonton, Alberta.

Part of the continent seems to be having trouble finding summer.  I would have never expected this to happen to Reston which has never seemed to have any trouble heating up in July.  I always thought heat in July was a part of the Reston experience.

Even this week, the Reston forecast has four days in the lower eighties and one day when it does not get out of the seventies.  For the heart of the summer that is strange weather.

It is exceptionally hard for me to relate to those temperatures since we have been through a few weeks when ours have regularly touched ninety degrees.  We have even seen some mid-nineties and a couple of times got in the upper nineties which is unusual for the beach area of the Southern Outer Banks.

This past weekend I was handing out fliers at the Bluewater GMAC Rental check-in.  I was in shorts, tee shirt, straw hat, and Birkenstocks just to stay cool.  I stayed for only two and one half hours because I ran out of fluids and was worried about getting dehydrated in the heat.  Interestingly many of the people checking in from the north were making comments about the blue skies and heat.

I heard a number of people say that it was nice to finally find summer. I do not pretend to be a weather expert, but I expect we will hear about this trend soon.  The situation is bad enough that I have not had any communication from my Boston friends in a month.  Boston seems particularly sensitive about their summer weather.

I can understand why.  When you miss summer, things like home grown tomatoes and grilling outside disappear.  The quick dip in the swimming pool late at night does not happen.  One of the things I enjoy most is going to the grocery store late in the evening over on the beach.  I like the blanket of warmth and the coastal breezes that inevitably greet me as we get out of the car.

Summer is still here along the beaches of Emerald Isle.  I suspect we still have some rental spots available. There are plenty of ways to have fun in our heat especially if you get out on the water.

But if you cannot make it, we will try to enjoy summer for you.  Of course there is still August which is almost always hot and humid in Northern Virginia.  You can always hope.